Exercise routines to prepare for swimming
I am a 13 year old, vegetarian, girl who is looking to do some exercise routines to prepare me for a Winter Swim team. I have just completed recovery from anorexia, and now weigh 86 pounds at 5 foot even. This is a healthy weight for me (I have a small frame and for my height I can be anywhere from 80-118 lbs). Obviously, I am not looking to lose any weight- if I could gain a couple pounds of muscle mass that would be awesome!
Right now, this is the exercise I do daily-
- 40-60 minutes of brisk walking
- 20-30 minutes swimming
- Various stretches before exercise
Back to the point, right now I am able to do about 12-15 laps in the pool at a moderate speed without becoming too out of breath. I would like to stay in shape during the winter, and my ultimate goal is to be able to do about 50 laps.
What are some exercise routines that could help me prepare for this kind of activity? I have easy access to a pool where I can do laps, and would also appreciate easy workouts I could do at home.
Thanks for all the advice- I appreciate it!
My mid-level group (9-13 year olds with at least 1 year of competitive swim experience) does a 20-30 min dryland program prior to 60 mins swim, 3x per week. Their dryland program is strictly body weight.
100-(build to) 200 jumping jacks
10-(build to) 50 push-ups
10-(build to) 50 crunches (look straight up at the ceiling and only lift your shoulders off the ground)
5 x 30 sec flutter kick on belly, hands/head in streamline position
sometimes they will run 1/4-3/4 mile
20-(build to) 50 lunges on each leg -- sometimes they go forward, sometimes backwards -- be careful to NOT let your knee go past your ankle
5 x 15-30 sec front plank position (on forearms then on straight arms)
at least 5 mins stretching
As far as the swimming goes -- try to increase your distance, you are at an age where you really need to build endurance. This means longer swims (sets of 200 yards/meters to 400 yards/meters) with rest intervals of about 30 secs between each swim. Also do some kicking sets, on or off a kickboard. Mix it up between longer, slower kick sets and fast shorter kick sets
You should also throw in a little speed work -- 25s going as fast as you can go, resting up to 1 minute then repeat. Mix up your strokes.
Make sure you start every swim workout with a warm up -- 100-500 yds/mtrs building speed until your heart rate is up. Make sure you do a cool down at the end of your workout (100-200 yd/mtr) to make sure your heart rate has come down.
Is your pool 25 yards/meters or 50 meters?
Original Post by coach_k:
Is your pool 25 yards/meters or 50 meters?
Our pool is 25 meters. We also have blocks which I can obtain permission to use.
Do you do any lengths underwater? Work your way up to a full length. Next step is to do it without pushing off with your legs. Next, when you get to the far end, turn around and see how far back you can get without going up for air. This exercise is great for increasing your lung capacity and oxygen efficiency. When I was a swimmer, the girls always seemed to do better at this than the guys. **Never do breath-holding exercises when you are alone, for obvious reasons.**
If you're trying to build muscle, stop the brisk walking and spend that time weight lifting. The most effective way to build muscle is to do compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows, benchpress, pullups, etc).
I also imagine (though I'm not a swim coach so maybe coach_K has can correct me if I'm wrong) that pulling exercises (bent over rows, pullups, etc) would have particular benefits for swimming.
You might also want to see if your library has Total Immersion and work on some of the drills described in the book.
Original Post by coach_k:
20-(build to) 50 lunges on each leg -- sometimes they go forward, sometimes backwards -- be careful to NOT let your knee go past your ankle
It's not possible to do a lung without your knee going past your ankle/toe.
Sorry, I have to respectfully disagree from a professional standpoint. 13 year old females should not be working with anything other than body weight -- swimmers, anyway. There are too many things that can go wrong, and swimming specific weight routines are hard to come by. Most high-level female swimmers do not start any kind of weight lifting until they get to college -- where there are trainers watching and designing swim specific weight routines.
I also disagree about the underwater swimming. First, you are not supposed to hold your breath while you swim, you should always be blowing bubbles. Second, swimming underwater while holding your breath has no bearing on the sport of swimming -- it is merely a race to get to the other end.
If you must do hypoxic training -- only while active observers are around -- do it through breath control swim sets. Swim sets where you breath every stroke on one length, every 3rd stroke on the next, every one, every 5th, every one, every 7th. This can help you learn how quickly to release your breath (big whoosh on the every stroke, small bubbles by the time you get to breathing every 7th stroke), and balance your stroke (bilateral breathing helps you learn to roll both directions, fast hip switching is essential to fast swimming).
You could use the block occasionally to do some really fast swims with really long intervals -- record your times, do them every couple of weeks and see how you progress. Sprint a 50 off the blocks, record your time, swim a really easy 50, rest 1-2 mins, and do the whole thing again (5 times if doing 50s/100s). Longer rest for longer distances.
I'm not sure you're at that level yet -- however you could get there. The other thing -- if you can get a heart rate monitor, do so. When sprinting you should be at 80-90%, when doing long endurance swims 50-60%, when doing "fast, kind of uncomfortable" sets -- should be 60-80%. If you can't get an HRM, learn to take your pulse (just below the jaw) and count.
One of the things about swimming is that you actually have to swim to get better at it -- running may help increase your lung capacity, but won't help you get faster in the pool. Water time is important time.
You will build muscle mass from swimming as long as you eat correctly -- it is a resistance exercise as well as cardio (come on, somebody come and fight me over this -- my guns against yours...). No, you won't build the same type of strength as with straight weights -- but that won't necessarily help with swimming. You will need to eat a fair amount of protein for muscle repair/building and carbs for energy -- not sugar carbs (although I doubt that to be a problem for you).
Sorry -- as you can see, I can't be brief when discussing swimming.
Original Post by floggingsully:
Original Post by coach_k:
20-(build to) 50 lunges on each leg -- sometimes they go forward, sometimes backwards -- be careful to NOT let your knee go past your ankle
It's not possible to do a lung without your knee going past your ankle/toe.
no it's not -- honestly. And particularly for young kids with loose joints, it is bad for them to go so low, or take such a short step that the knee/thigh goes past 90 degrees.
I'm not saying that for you or I should limit the range of motion in a lunge, but for kids, and swimmers who uses their knees rather uniquely (in breaststroke), deep lunges with a bend of more than 90 degrees is not beneficial.
And regarding the weights -- just as examples -- Michael Phelps did not start lifting weights until after the LAST olympics in 2004, Katie Hoff does not lift weights (other than body weight) -- or hadn't been doing so as of October 2007.
I swam competitively from the age of 8 until 18 and I agree with coachk (obviously she's more experienced) swim swim swim, running is great for over-all fitness but in no way have i ever found it improved my pool times or pool fitness. So if you want to train prioritise swimming over walking/running.
Give yourself measurable goals, like has been said, take times: long distance and short, so that you can see how far you've come.
Hypoxic training has it's place: sprint 25m no breaths etc, swimming under-water really doesn't have any point, it's not a motion you'd be doing in a race. But it's better to learn good breathing techniques, every 3, every5, every 7 etc.
Bikers shouldn't train chest or upper body much, if at all - upper body muscle mass is just a drag on their sports performance. Conversely, rock climbers shouldn't train legs - that's just more weight that the upper body has to haul up. I assume that a lot of the same things hold true for swimmers - a particular training response may not be desireable from a performance PoV even if it is generally healthy.
And when you're talking about sports-specific training, I'd go with Coach :)
Original Post by jonasfreek:
I have just completed recovery from anorexia, and now weigh 86 pounds at 5 foot even. This is a healthy weight for me
Sorry I just had to comment on this since no-one else has. I'm really glad that you're recovering from anorexia, but this isn't a healthy weight for you, even at 5'0 and a small frame. This puts you at a bmi of 16.9, underweight by anyone's standards.
Swimming is great exercise and it's awesome that you're looking to build muscle mass, but just make sure you increase your calories too. It's very hard to build muscle with a calorie deficit and you obviously don't need to lose weight. You did state that you're NOT trying to lose weight, but just thought I'd warn you that if you're stepping up your exercise, you're going to really need to increase your food.
Original Post by kukua:
Original Post by jonasfreek:
I have just completed recovery from anorexia, and now weigh 86 pounds at 5 foot even. This is a healthy weight for me
Sorry I just had to comment on this since no-one else has. I'm really glad that you're recovering from anorexia, but this isn't a healthy weight for you, even at 5'0 and a small frame. This puts you at a bmi of 16.9, underweight by anyone's standards.
Swimming is great exercise and it's awesome that you're looking to build muscle mass, but just make sure you increase your calories too. It's very hard to build muscle with a calorie deficit and you obviously don't need to lose weight. You did state that you're NOT trying to lose weight, but just thought I'd warn you that if you're stepping up your exercise, you're going to really need to increase your food.
Kukua -- she is only 13 -- 16.9 BMI is perfectly acceptable for a 13 year old girl and places her within the normal range for her age/size.
You're right however, she will need to increase her foods to compensate for the calories she burning
Ah sorry, somehow missed her age lol.
Original Post by kukua:
Original Post by jonasfreek:
I have just completed recovery from anorexia, and now weigh 86 pounds at 5 foot even. This is a healthy weight for me
Sorry I just had to comment on this since no-one else has. I'm really glad that you're recovering from anorexia, but this isn't a healthy weight for you, even at 5'0 and a small frame. This puts you at a bmi of 16.9, underweight by anyone's standards.
Swimming is great exercise and it's awesome that you're looking to build muscle mass, but just make sure you increase your calories too. It's very hard to build muscle with a calorie deficit and you obviously don't need to lose weight. You did state that you're NOT trying to lose weight, but just thought I'd warn you that if you're stepping up your exercise, you're going to really need to increase your food.
Did you look at a kids BMI calculator or an adult one? Kids ones (For ages up to 18) say that I can be 80 to 118 pounds.
Original Post by kukua:
Ah sorry, somehow missed her age lol.
Hahah, didn't see that. x)
heh, you won't need to "prepare" for it. that's what the first week is for!!! what you don't want to DIE with everyone else /gasp
do what you can for now, the best advice i can give you is to do what the coach says and don't complain (it's just irritating to the other swimmers), but don't over do it. =)
congrats on your recovery, keep up the healthy lifestyle!
So you can log your weight -- which allows you to do the following:
- Plot your weight curve
- Analyze the trend of your weight (see under Recent in the figure above)
- Determine the projected target date (see under Overall in the figure above)